This invention relates to an optical character reading apparatus for optically reading a character image which is on an object member, such as a mail or a sheet.
Various optical character reading apparatus of the type are already known. The optical character reading apparatus includes a projecting device which is for projecting a light beam towards an object member, such as a mail or a sheet. In the manner known in the art, such an object member has a character image which is provided on a part thereof.
In order to carry out reading operation of the object member, the light beam scans the object member. Responsive to the light beam, the object member image produces a reflected beam. Responsive to the reflected beam, the optical character reading apparatus produces a character signal representative of the character image.
In the manner which will be described in the following description, the optical character reading apparatus includes a character detecting circuit, an image processing circuit, a memory, and a comparison carrying out circuit. The character detecting circuit is for detecting the character image with reference to the reflected beam to produce a detected image. The image processing circuit is for processing the detected image into a processed image. The memory is for memorizing a plurality of predetermined reference images. The comparison carrying out circuit is for carrying out comparison between the processed image and each of the predetermined reference images to produce a compared result signal as the character signal.
It is assumed that an unnecessary image, such as an underline of a frame line, is printed along the character image in contact therewith in order to highlight a position of the character image on the object member. In this event, the detected image comprises an information part and a noise part which are representative of the character image and the underline, respectively. It is assumed that the information part and the noise part are partially overlapped each other. This results in occurrence of an error or failure in the reading operation. This is because it is impossible to correctly discriminate the information part from the noise part.